ALBANY — New York education leaders on Tuesday urged government officials to build more flexibility into the state's new "free tuition" program, which launched this summer and is currently serving more than 23,000 public college students statewide.

University leaders told lawmakers at a Tuesday hearing of the Assembly's Higher Education Committee that they hope the state will expand the program's application period, particularly for community college students, who historically tend to enroll in the days and weeks leading up to the first day of classes.

"A lot of community college students may have had financial circumstances change, and at the last minute decide to enroll," said Patricia Thompson, assistant vice chancellor for student financial aid services at the SUNY system. "We certainly don't want to discourage that."

It was the first major hearing on the state's free tuition program, known as the Excelsior Scholarship, since its much-heralded launch this summer. Lawmakers, led by committee chair Deborah Glick, were eager to hear how the implementation went, what mistakes were made, and what improvements could ensure a smoother rollout in the future.

Of particular concern to education leaders and advocates was the late, compressed time frame that students had to apply for the scholarship, which is available to students from households making less than $100,000 a year. The income cutoff will rise to $110,000 next year, and $125,000 in 2019.

Because it passed with the state budget in April, it wasn't until June 7 that the application window for the scholarships even opened. It closed 45 days later on Aug. 21.

As a result, some students weren't notified until mid-semester that they were eligible for an award, and many had still not seen the tuition deducted from their bills. Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office on Tuesday said tuition should have been deferred for these students, with colleges receiving reimbursement at the end of each semester.

"I think the rollout of this program was done very well, given that we had an incredibly compressed time frame," said Dan Fuller, assistant secretary for education for Cuomo, who championed the program.

Moving forward, the application period for a fall semester will kick off in March, Fuller said, giving students plenty of advance time to get their applications in.

SUNY leaders stressed it would be important to open the application window "as soon as possible" and keep it open "as late as possible," so that as many students as possible have a chance to apply.

During the 45-day window this past summer, more than 94,000 students applied for a scholarship and 46,000 of them learned they would receive free tuition. But not all of those would receive the new Excelsior Scholarship.

That's because the scholarship is a "last-dollar" award, meaning it applies only after all other forms of financial aid are taken into account. For 45 years, the lowest-income students in New York have been able to receive free or discounted tuition through the state's Tuition Assistance Program, not to mention the federal Pell grant program.

All told, just 23,000 students ended up qualifying for an Excelsior Scholarship — with most of them coming from families that historically made too much to qualify for financial aid.

The low acceptance rate was proof to critics that the program was far too exclusive. To receive an award, students must attend school full-time and complete 30 credits a year — a requirement that boxes out the large number of students in New York who attend part-time because they are juggling jobs, families, or both.

While the governor's office and SUNY have said that this requirement is key to ensuring students save money and graduate on time, the Center for an Urban Future on Tuesday called it a "relic of a long-dead era" when most college students were recent high school graduates whose parents could fully support them while they studied full-time.

"Today, such so-called 'traditional students' are a minority of the student population," Thomas Hilliard, a senior researcher at the center, told lawmakers. "Six out of 10 college students nationwide work, one in four have children, and more than half are independent. Some students may change their behavior to obtain the Excelsior grant, but most will find it unrealistic or counterproductive."

The acceptance rate also prompted Glick to wonder aloud if the governor's office hadn't "oversold" the program, giving false hopes to students who may not have been aware of the program's strict requirements.

"I think to some extent when you put the words 'free' in front of things you generate a lot of interest," Fuller responded. "And free tuition, certainly at a time when student loan debt is at $1.4 trillion, generates interest. I think that we were always pretty clear about the credits and the on-time graduation ... so I don't think there was a big surprise. I think we did get a lot of interest, and I think that's a good thing."

Lawmakers also heard from the state's private colleges, who early on had voiced concerns about the free tuition program potentially siphoning off their students.

In response to concerns, state legislators established an Enhanced Tuition Award for private college students, promising to shave $6,000 off their tuition so long as their colleges put up half the money and agreed to cap tuition for the duration of the award. Only 30 of the state's 110 private colleges signed up to participate, though.

That's because the requirements — for both students and colleges — were too tough, said Mary Beth Labate, president of the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities. Private campuses in New York already provide $5.4 billion in grant aid to students each year, which amounts to nearly 90 percent of all grant aid students receive, she said.

"Requiring a new matching program does not account for the aid campuses already give," she said. "This is particularly harmful to institutions that operate on a low-tuition, low-aid business model that keeps costs low for students."

This fall, CICU reported that the state's private colleges that largely enroll in-state students had experienced a notable drop-off in enrollment this fall.

"I think it was a confluence of factors," Labate told lawmakers Tuesday. "I can't say it was all part of this Excelsior effect."